Separation of cylinders from spheres



J. 17, 195@ NANCE r AL 2,494,939

SEPARATION OF CYLINDERS FROM SPHERE-S m/vr/v TORS 'KEWH LNANCE LEROY R. CHANQE atente Jan. 17,1950

SEPARATION s PAT or CYLINDERS FROM srnsnss.

sNr OFFICE poration of Indiana Application January-13, 1948, Serial him-1,978

application, of Gleeson, Serial No. 75 t 2; tiled June 3, 1947, entitled Centerless grindingiprocessi? showsand claims'a method of through ieeding of generally cylindrical and tubularrwork, pieces such as clutch spring blanks to centerless grinding tools, said method comprising, essentially, spacing the pieces apart by interposed spherical separator members for advancement jof: the pieces serially. along. a, guide to, and l past'themone,ofoperation of the tools. By thatmetho'd .theadi'a'cent ends offthe pieces cannot some intocontact with each other so as to interfere; with proper grinding. as fully explained in said application.-

The present invention is concerned with simple eifective method of and apparatus for continuously segregating differently formed parts such as-the work pieces and separator members men nedgwhiie; being dischargedras from a trough-like guide, so, as. to avoidhav'ing' tos'egregate the parts byhand. Thereby the separator members can, if.,.desired,.-.be continuously resuppliedjtoJthe feeding side of the grinding machine, and the ground work pieces very conveniently inspected and/or cleaned or subjected to further processing etc. The above indicates the principal objects hereof. e I

A specific object is to providea simple and effective practicable work segregating means rating spherical objects from generally r al ,el:vjects while being fed, for example, raltv 1, "arrangementgto separating or gati e position along a generally horizontal slud e-Q29 Q 1" :Qther features of theinvention will be-"explained in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a side View of the Work guide as arranged in association with centerless grinder wheels, part of one of the latter being -shown'; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the guide and segregating means'hereof in one form, the work pieces and separator members being indicated thereon. diagrammaticallyv by broken lines, and Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive are transverse sections takenas conventionally indicated on Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 a discharge portion of a work guide or rail l is more or less diagrammatically or incompletely shown in its usual position adjacent or along side of the grinder wheel 2. The feed wheel; is not shown. The guide maybe simply a trough. at its discharge portion, aligned with a receiving trough shaped guide for the work pieces'W, shown: as simple helical clutch springs,

and the separator members S shown as metal balls. The trough-feeding process as disclosed 9 Claims. (oiszoes oy- I 2 by saidapplication results in pushing the series of work pieces and separators in mutual light contact with each other from the rail l onto the top relatively intersecting faces Band l of the guide 2 which, operatively, form a shallow V guide which maintains the work pieces and separators, approximateiyi in alignment up to the segregatingpointor region til. Because of the weight ofthe pizeceellfand friction contact thereof with the v-forming guide faces 6 and l the spherical separators S remain usually in full peripheral contact with the work pieces partially entering their tubular ends as apparent from Figs; 1 and 2. Theseparators have a somewhat smaller diameter than the external diameters of work pieces but are nevertheless much larger than the internal diameters or axial holes in the work pieces. Thus the two nest together or lightly interlock as advanced along the guide. Because the separators are in such nested relationship with the holes'of the pieces W and may be slightly mutually adherent, a separating force is sometimes necessary to be exerted at the segregating region in a direction'generally axially of thework pieces.

As will be evident .from;F i gs;.,2 and 4 to 6,,onev side of the .guideifacerfl merges at m: into a rela-.

tively narroy rampface i extending and sloping laterally; from the axial, center 12 of the guide,

-contiguoustherewith and obliquely thereof in the. general direction of advance of 'the pieces :as. indicated. bythe' arrow on'Figs. 1 and2. The. halls S thereby roll off to the right Fig; 2 asiat S2" on the ramp M asalong the; indicating line 'd and are discharged, usually, into the funnel-shaped 2 mouth of .a gravity. conveyer tube (notshown).

leading.; ('e.ag;i back. to .the feeding.- sideiof .the'

grinder machine.

The leading one Wt of the centerless ground clutch springs W in the trough, Fig. 2, is projected across the relatively narrow ramp surface by I theoncoming pieces S and W to where it comes in contact with a camming surface portion Ma of a relatively wide ramp surface H1. The ramp Hi slopes oppositely from the ramp II and is in offset relation thereto longitudinally of the guide 5. The clutch springs, of course, have to be longer than the initial defining surface of the ramp M (portion contiguous to the center I2 of the guide) in order to reach across as mentioned.

Usually the springs are of ample length, being wound with enough coils so that they are longer than-their diameter. They need not be that long for effective segregation from the separator balls by the present apparatus.

The right hand portion of the ramp surface I 4 as viewed in Fig. 2 is defined in part by a rib or rim portion l5 of the guide 5 which portion beginning at about the point l5a, Fig. 2, slopes and curves gradually upwardly and extends to the right of the longitudinal center l2 of the guide whereby to present the leftward sloping cam surface portion 14a in proper'position out of line with the guide center for contact with the leading peripheral edge portion of the oncoming clutch spring approximately at the point ,or region indicated W2 in Fig. 5. At about the time such leading edge portion of a leading clutch spring WI encounters the camlsurface' fportion I la of the leftward sloping ramp the ladingball SI (Fig. 2) rolls out from itsposition between the two adjacent and still aligned leading clutch springs, thus accelerating the movement of the foremost clutch spring which is in engagement with the cam, and the latter clutch spring is thus forcibly ejected to the left somewhat as indicated atW3. V The ejected clutch springs rol1 or tumble off the ramp l4 into a suitable receptacle, hopper or the like, not shown. Since the clutch spring ends are apt to be wet andstickyfrom accumulations ofgrinder compound and metal grinding residue, the sudden force exerted by the ball on the clutch spring-which is about tobe ejected to the left as described is important especially when the springs are unusually short and barely bridge across to the beginning of the cammingsurface Ma. -Weclaim: I 7 =1. A segregating device including a guide adapted to support serially arranged generally cylindrical and spherical articles for movement therealong in a single direction in mutual contact with each other, said guide terminating in oppositely sloping mutually contiguous ramps extending laterally of said direction in obliquely offset relationship to each other along the central axis of the guide so as to provide a first encountered ramp, the effective entrance to the first ramp being less wide than the length of the cylindrical articles so that the latter are prevented from rolling off the first ramp and a second encountered ramp having an effective entrance at least as wide as the length of the cylindrical articles and having a camming surface portion, the upper defining limit of which divides the ramps, said portion rising from the guide and extending beyond the guide center on the side occupied by the first encountered ramp and then back across the center to the other side.

2. A guiding and segregating upwardly open trough adapted to support serially arranged generally cylindrical and spherical articles for movement along the trough in one direction in mutual contact, said trough terminating in laterally extending, oppositely sloping first and second encountered mutually contiguous ramps in obliquely offset relationship to each other along the axis of thetrough and contiguous therewith, the effective entrance tothe first ramp being less wide than the length of the cylindrical articles so that the latter are prevented from rolling off the first ramp, the second encountered ramp having an effective entrance at least as wide as the length of the cylindrical articles and including a sloping surface curving upwardly from the bottom of the trough and extending on both sides of the vertical longitudinal plane of said bottom whereby to support and deflect the cylindrical articles toward the second encountered ramp when the cylindrical articles are projected beyond the first encountered ramp.

3. Apparatus for segregating generally sphericaland generally cylindrical articles when advanced in approximate alignment along a commonv path, said apparatus comprising an upwardlyopen V-shaped trough terminatingin-a ramp extending laterally from and contiguous with the bottom of the V in one direction, said ramp having an effective entrance of such limitedtransverse dimension in respect to the length of the cylindrical articles that the latter cannot roll therethrough, a second ramp sloping laterally from the bottom of the V in the opposite direction and beginning at a point beyond the beginning of the first ramp in the direction of movement of the articles, the second ramp including a cam surface defined atone side by a rim curving upwardly from the bottom of the trough and extendingbeyond the trough center in a direction away from the second ramp and then rising and curving obliquely 'infithe opposite direction for engagement by leading end portions of the cylindrical articles projected beyond the first ramp.

KEITH LLOYD NANCE. LE ROY RICHARD CHANCE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

